Jim's in hunt for new squad talent
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JIM Mcintyre is looking to add a couple more faces to his Ross County squad ahead of the new campaign.
With the nucleus of a squad in place ahead of the new campaign – supplemented by four summer signings – McIntyre feels he only needs one or two more additions ahead of the start of the season.
Christopher Routis, Kenny van der Weg, Erik Cikos and Aaron McCarey already penned deals in Dingwall before the summer break and will be with the squad as they return for pre-season training tomorrow.
Only Jamie Reckord, David Goodwillie and Gary Woods have left the club after last season’s sixth-place finish, with the long-term planning under McIntyre paying dividends with the remainder of the squad tied up.
It does not mean that his summer work is done, however.
McIntyre told the North Star: “There’s still a bit of work to be done. We’re still trying to get a couple of more signings in.“When you have the nucleus of a good side together, you’ve just got to add other good players to complement that. The signings we have made will make the side stronger – we need to be conceding less goals than we did last season.
“That’s the reason we’ve brought in a natural left-sider in Kenny van der Weg and Erik Cikos, who is someone I knew from his previous spell with Ross County. He spent the last two weeks of the season with us and will provide good competition for Marcus Fraser.”
One man not expected back immediately will be Australian midfielder Jackson Irvine, who has been given extra time off with his family following a hectic 12-month schedule. Irvine has been on duty most recently with the full Australian side but was also playing for the Olyroos – their Olympic under-23 side – last summer, taking him over 50 games in a 12-month period.
The Staggies fly out for a pre-season training camp in Hungary at the start of next month, with friendlies lined up against Paksi on July 5 and Soroksar on July 8. But with the Irn Bru League Cup starting on July 16 for County with a game against Montrose, McIntyre does not anticipate having a regular pre-season schedule.He said: “We might take one more game but with the new cup format, you don’t want to take your normal quota of pre-season games. With the cup fixtures, you would probably be looking at 10 games in July, which is too much. We’re in uncharted waters to a certain extent.”
The fixtures for the new Premiership season were released last week, pitting County against Dundee at the Globale Energy Stadium on the opening day of the season. What follows is a mouth-watering first derby of the season in Inverness on August 13 – Richie Foran’s first Highland derby in charge of Caley Thistle.
McIntyre added: “We’re delighted to start off at home because we’ve predominantly had tough starts to the season in the past. All games are difficult at this level but you’re always looking for a home game to start.
“It’s exciting to get a derby second game in and with Richie getting the job at Inverness, it adds a bit of spice to it.”
Meanwhile, it is understood that County and Caley Thistle turned down the chance to bring former midfielder John Rankin back to the club. Rankin was freed by relegated by Dundee United in the summer but neither club took up the chance to make an offer when the player was made available.
